Originally posted by
illinoisplanner
Hi all,
For those who don't know or remember me, I'm illinoisplanner. I'm a lifelong resident of suburban Chicago, with a background in geography and planning, but currently working in real estate analysis. I have been a member of Cyburbia since May 2005, but have been inactive for about the past 8-9 months.
I don't know why I left in the first place. I think I maybe just needed some time to reflect. I think part of it was just feeling disenfranchised with all the political threads at the time. When I left, we were in the midst of the heated and bitter 2012 election season and the battle over gun control in the wake of the Aurora, CO movie theater shooting. My political views lean to the right, but have moderated considerably over the years, and if anything, I'm finding myself becoming more libertarian. Nevertheless, some of my views are probably still at odds with a lot of you, so I will try to steer clear of the political threads as much as I can. In addition, as someone no longer directly involved in the field of city planning, I was starting to wonder if Cyburbia was still the place for me. However, after reflecting, I've realized that I apply my spatial and planning skills daily in my current job researching, analyzing, and marketing real estate. I'm also still very interested in planning and development and still feel I can bring a fair amount of experience and a new perspective to the table. In addition, I know that there are people from all walks of life on here and we are all united by our interest in the built environment in some form or another. But most of all, I just miss this place and all of you. To me, Cyburbia has always been such a neat place to just chill and talk about whatever with some pretty cool and like-minded people.
I might have come back sooner. But as I'm sure many of you are aware, only about two months after I stopped posting here, my dad's health deteriorated rapidly and he subsequently died in October from multiple myeloma. Around that time, I learned that the Bear had also passed away from cancer and I briefly checked in here at that time. I am still blown away by the expressions of sympathy and gratitude that you all showed to me. Not long after that, my dog's health also declined rapidly (like Bear, he had developed lymphoma), and by mid-January, he had lost his vision, would pant constantly, could not sleep, and would collapse due to the pain, and my mom and I had to make the difficult decision to put him to sleep three months to the day after my dad passed away. So I've definitely been through a lot recently.
Nevertheless, I feel I am coming out of my grief finally. Even though it's cold outside, I feel spring in the air and a sense of renewal. Time for a fresh start and new beginnings and getting back to the things and people I love. And that includes you, Cyburbia! I look forward to more conversation about everything under the sun with all of you once again (and who knows, maybe even some on-topic planning discussion too!).
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